


Try the Patience of a Saint

by Annehiggins



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-29
Updated: 2012-10-29
Packaged: 2017-11-17 07:38:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annehiggins/pseuds/Annehiggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve gets hurt; Danny has to prove he can swim; Steve has to pay for it – which might not be too bad a thing. This is a bottomSteve story!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Try the Patience of a Saint

**Author's Note:**

> This was written during season 1, before we met Rachel and before the repeal of Don't Ask/Don't Tell.

  
**Try the Patience of a Saint**  
By Anne Higgins

Danny Williams had lived in Pineapple Hell for eight months, three weeks, two days and … well, he'd check his watch to figure the miserable hours and minutes the second people stopped shooting at him. As usual he blamed his partner, Mr. Shoot First, Last and Always. And if they lived through this one, they were going to go through round 706 of Steve McGarett attitude adjustment time. Of course, as usual when in Steve's company, the 'if' part of the equation was proving the sticking point.

In a revolting case of déjà vu reminiscent of his first insane romp with the man, Danny found himself playing tag on a freighter with a dozen well-armed bad guys. Okay, so this time he got to stay all nice and cozy on the dock while getting shot at and the whole 5-0 gang was along for the fun and games, so maybe not so much déjà vu as an unfortunate reoccurring theme.

Chin Ho Kelly and Kono Kalakaua had taken up positions to his right, while their boss and all-around trouble-magnet had gone into Ninja-SEAL mode and boarded the stupid boat from the seaside. And yes, he knew it was correctly called a ship, but 'ship' didn't have the virtue of annoying Steve. At the moment Danny didn't know who he hated more – the scum-sucking arms smugglers or Steve. Although Steve had a real shot at first place. A bullet struck a few millimeters from his head and Danny added 'no pun intended' to his internal rant. And because he was an awesome multi-tasker, he also located the dirtbag who had slipped around to try and flank him.

A well-placed shot took care of the problem, and he decided shifting to a new location might increase his chances of seeing forty. Oh, and hey, his cozy nests of crates put him in the perfect position to spot his bitch of a partner just as he jumped one of the more annoying shooters. Bad guy must have been some ex-special whatever dropout because he seemed to be giving Batman a run for his money in the fisticuffs department. Shit.

Both moving too fast for Danny to get a shot off, he concentrated on taking out those drawn by the fight. Chin and Kono seemed to have the same idea, and things were looking up for the good guys when it all went to hell.

HPD SWAT rolled up behind them, so yay, reinforcements, but it panicked one of the smugglers and he took a shot at Steve. Moron got the expected result when shooting at two moving targets – his guy zigged instead of zagged and ended up between Steve and the bullet. Problem was the shooter had used some high-caliber monster that let the damned thing keep going. Clipped Steve on exit and the dead body crashing into him couldn't have helped, in any case, next thing Danny knew, fearless leader was falling off the side of a very tall boat.

"Shit!" he shouted, tossing his gun and vest aside before Steve even hit the water with a sickening smack. Trust Steve to find the worst possible way to make him prove he could swim, and Danny added a rant about that to the list of the words he and his partner would have later as he executed a perfect dive into the water, thank you very much.

Water was murky this close to the docks and Steve had hit with a lot of momentum. Took Danny a good frantic three minutes to reach him, then drag him back to the surface. Kono appeared beside him and together they lifted Steve up to Chin and a couple of paramedics on the docks. An ambulance rolling along with SWAT standard procedure, Steve was on the way to the hospital before Danny and Kono could get back on dry land.

*

Steve came around to the sound of a wailing siren and the press of an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. His first thought was 'ow!' His second revolved around 'Danno's gonna kill me.' He had no doubts of the accuracy of this assessment given it was almost a constant in his life these days, but he was a little disoriented so the details of why were doing their best to escape him.

"Take it easy, Commander," a Hawaiian male in a fucking paramedic uniform said. "Bullet just grazed you and you're breathing on your own again."

Shot and drowned. Oh, yeah, Danno was definitely gonna kill him. Nothing about the next few hours changed that assessment. Point one, he'd gone onto the ship alone against Danny's usual string of protests; point two, he'd gotten himself shot; point three, he'd fallen off the ship, giving himself a minor concussion and one hell of a body bruise plus a set of lungs full of water; point three, Danny had apparently pulled him out of the water, no doubt ruining his tie and shoes in the process. Steve knew he had days of kibitzing about salt water drying on skin, squeaky shoes and the survival instincts of a lemming in his future.

Given this, he made the perfectly logical strategic decision to totally avoid the inevitable until his headache went away and had his very nice doctor bar any and all visitors from his hospital room and let him stay overnight. Hey, being the governor's personal attack dog had to have some perks!

In his defense he did call his sister to tell her he was fine and hiding out. Obviously not of a military mindset, she called him a coward and told him to call Danny. Chin said much the same thing when he kept to his very reasonable plan and checked in with him instead of his partner. Equally obvious – neither of them had been on the receiving end of one of Danny Williams' extra special rants.

*

Deprived of his primary target, Danny settled for chewing out the universe. In between a stack of paperwork large enough to make office furniture out of. Shot up pier, shot up bad guys, shot up moronic son of a bitch with a martyr complex all equaled a crate full of forms to fill out.

"Brah, you need to chill before you give yourself a heart attack."

Danny glared at Chin. "Easy for you to say. You have a nice, sane partner who doesn't run around trying to get you or herself killed every two seconds."

Kono gave him a bright smile, "You say the sweetest things."

Chin rolled his eyes and gave her a look. "You have your moments, Cuz," he reminded her, and what that was about Danny didn't know. And didn't want to know either because he had a McGarett Special of a headache already.

Unfortunately, Chin wasn't going with his game plan because he gave Danny a look and said, "Want to know what else helps keep the frustration levels low?"

He was sure he didn't, but what the hell, his day was shot already. Pun not intended, but these things happened. "What?"

"I don't want to sleep with my partner."

Kono nodded. "You need to put both of you out of your misery and get the boss into bed."

Danny wondered what happened to the good old days when people thought sleeping with co-workers, let alone the boss was a bad, bad thing. And yeah, it wasn't like he hadn't thought about hitting that. Man was easy on the eyes and annoyingly likeable around the edges. Hell, in his more insane moments he was willing to admit they'd end up together some day because despite all common sense he was in love with the bastard. But Steve was always willing to do some dumb fuck thing to remind him why this was all a very stupid idea. "I haven't decided I hate myself that much yet."

Chin smirked. "Sure you have. Besides, you don't kiss him, I think this time we'll end up arresting your haole ass for killing him."

"Yep," Kono agreed. "Time to take one for the team." She grinned. "Danno."

"I hate you both so much right now."

They looked at each other, smirked, then back to him. "We can live with it," Chin said.

"Now go bag the babe."

So much hate.

*

By morning Steve's headache had indeed faded into something a couple of Tylenol could deal with, his lungs had been declared a-okay and he could move without gritting his teeth – although he had to give the muscle relaxant they forced on him a lot of credit for that. He could also still hear, something he just knew wouldn't remain true once Danny caught up with him. Deciding to stay with the plan of full recovery before confrontation, he called a cab to get him home, then took the wheelchair ride out the front door with nothing more than token protest. Perfect plan, except apparently his damned partner had been his partner long enough to know how his mind worked, because instead of a happy-to-please cab driver, Danny was waiting for him.

"Um," he said trying to gauge how much trouble he was in from the way Danny was leaning back against his car with his arms crossed. Answer – a lot. Maybe he should run for it?

Danny anticipated that as well. "Get your skanky ass out of that chair and into this car," he snapped, jerking open the passenger door.

Steve opened his mouth to protest his ass wasn't skanky, but Danny held up a finger. "Not. A. Word. Now move it!"

Figuring the odds were 50-50 that Danny would shoot him if he didn't obey, Steve moved. Didn't mean he couldn't sulk. He _hated_ it when Danny wouldn't let him talk. Even worse Danny wasn't talking either and a silent Danno was unnatural. Hated, hated, HATED this, and it didn't help that a little voice inside his head – one sounding like a weird mix of his sister, Chin and Danny told him he'd set himself up for this so he should suck it up and take it like a man. Fuck.

He all but fled into his house, but of course, Danny followed him. Worse, the damned place seemed empty. "Where's Mary?" he blurted, desperate for the blunting force of another presence.

"Staying with a boyfriend."

Steve stared at him. His sister had gone and shacked up with someone while he was wounded? And left him alone with Danny?

Some of this must have shown on his face because his partner chuckled. "She was surprisingly happy to hand off the 'care and feeding of' to me. Did say I should give her a call if I decided to put you over my knee so she could watch."

Oh, God. Despite the muscle relaxant in his system his cock gave a twitch at the thought and of course the bastard noticed.

Danny smirked. "I'll assume it’s the idea of me spanking you and not your sister watching that has you interested."

Steve wanted to sputter some answer about no way he wanted Mary within a thousand miles of his bare ass, then figured there really wasn't a good answer to this question and scowled.

"Yeah, well, no way am I going to give your masochistic little brain yet another reason to go all Action Man on me. You want a spanking you ask for it because your version of bratty behavior is gonna get one of us killed. You got me?"

He almost nodded, then his brain kind of caught up with the conversation, and what the hell? "So … we're talking about this?" No real need to say what 'this' was. Not like they were ever around anyone for two minutes before they were pegged as a couple, even if they hadn't really done anything about it.

"No, we are not. You are going to bed and sleep off yesterday's error in judgment while I am making myself at home and getting crumbs all over everything."

Steve opened his mouth to protest and got the raised finger of 'shut up' again. "No talking, just go."

Right. And his brain was still a little woozy to deal with all of this. He moved toward his bedroom, but Danny wasn't quite finished. "Oh, one more thing." He stepped right up close and personal and how the hell could someone twenty feet shorter than Steve seem to tower over him? "You ever keep me away from you when you're hurt again and you'll need a second stay in the hospital to recover from the fallout. Understand?"

Steve swallowed, knowing the difference between Danny's ranting threats and a solemn promise. "Got it."

"Good, boy." He cupped Steve's face in his hands, then pulled him down for a gentle brush of his lips over Steve's.

Steve leaned into both touches, then whined in protest when Danny withdrew both.

"Hit the mattress, McGarett," Danny said, heading for the kitchen probably to make it clear he wasn't coming along. And Steve really wanted to complain about that, but he was too sore and too drugged to do anything interesting and Danny was too mad to just keep him company while he slept. Yeah, he'd blown this one. Maybe next time he'd remember to listen to his sister. But probably not.

He settled for pouting until he fell asleep.

*

Despite his threats and with full knowledge that it would serve Steve right, Danny kept his crumbs confined to the table and wiped them up after he finished lunch. Might not be satisfying, but hey, his mom had raised him better.

After lunch he picked Grace up from a birthday party, and let her spend the afternoon playing on the beach while he watched with one ear cocked toward any sounds of distress from the house. Annoying partners aside, it was a good day. At least until Grace looked up from her sand castle masterpiece. "Daddy, you said we had to stay here because Steve was hurt and you needed to look after him."

"That's right, Monkey. It bother you?"

"No, I like Steve."

That was good. Although he'd have to re-evaluate if she ever showed signs of trying to use him as a role model.

"But why are we doing it? I thought he had a sister."

He sighed. He could fall back on the old 'partners look after each other' line, and it would have been true enough, but he might as well get this over with. He supposed it wouldn't be good to tell his baby girl that he was in love with the bitch, even if it was a sentiment more in keeping with his mood, so he compromised. "I like him, Monkey. A lot."

She looked at him. "Like Mommy likes Stan?"

He shuddered inwardly to hear anything he felt compared to how Rachel did, but ah, well. "Yeah, like that."

"You going to marry him?"

If he didn't get to the 'til death do we part' bit before he could propose. "Probably, but not for awhile."

"Can I be a flower girl?"

"You kidding me? You've got a much more important job to do. You've got to walk Step-Steve down the aisle." Because that bitch was so gonna be the bride.

She giggled and yeah, it was a really good day.

*

Steve spent the next eighteen hours mostly sleeping off his meds, but he did distinctly remember eating chicken soup and crackers for dinner, then pancakes for breakfast the following morning. Afterwards he managed to whine enough for Danny to relent on yet another round of the heavy-duty drugs and when he woke up late-afternoon, Steve felt mostly back to normal.

He wandered through the house and found himself alone, but Danny had left him a note: _Taking Grace home, then stopping off at the office. Home by dinner. Be good. D_

Steve rolled his eyes, then popped a couple of over-the-counter pain relievers. A long hot shower chased away most of the lingering aches so back to work tomorrow it was.

Steve frowned as he dressed, wondering how big an argument Danny would give him over it. On the one hand, Steve was the boss and it was his body so if he cleared himself for duty that should be the end of it. On the other, he was dealing with Danny Williams, so things going smoothly didn't seem likely. Okay, first thing he needed to do was figure out how invested Danno was in this whole potential relationship thing, because yes, he knew Danny wanted him – been a mutual thing since they'd first almost shot each other – but he'd learned a long time ago someone wanting his body didn't have much to do with liking him. So time to gather some intell.

He headed for the guest room, formerly his old room, because it only made sense for Grace to have slept in Mary's old room since it still had that 'girly' feel to it. Sure enough, he found socks in a drawer he'd emptied out years ago. He frowned after a moment. There were several pairs – far more than needed for a couple of days of baby-sitting. He checked the other drawers and found them equally full of underwear and T-shirts. Good to know Danny had a few of those, but at least he hadn't worn a tie to the football games.

Speaking of which, an examination of the closet found a tie rack full of every tie he'd ever seen Danny wear minus the one he'd no doubt put on today. Ditto the shirts. Plus a few of each he hadn't seen. Dress pants, jeans and the usual number of pairs of shoes found in a man's closet. In other words, while he'd been in a drugged-out haze, Danny had moved in with him.

His knees felt weak and he sank down onto the edge of the bed. This was … big. No one had ever wanted. … He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly to keep himself calm. He'd started falling in love with Danny within a week of meeting him. Seeing him with Grace had finished the fall, but he'd never dreamed the man felt more for him than some serious lust and, at best, fond exasperation. But this room … this said Danny was in it with him for the long haul. Despite his complaints about 'aneurysm face, suicidal tendencies' and problems relating 'mammal to mammal' Danny might actually love him, too.

It didn't track. Danny was supposed to be relationship shy, burned and embittered by the collapse of his marriage and a toxic divorce, but just like with his clothing choices, the man refused to fit into some pigeonhole set of expectations. He'd always admired that about Danny. Even if he did think it was ludicrous to wear a tie in this climate, it spoke of how comfortable the man was in his own skin. He didn't mind standing out, didn't mind announcing that he was not one of the pineapple-loving hordes at least twenty times a day. At first Steve had thought it might be a sign of just the opposite – Danny clinging to Jersey styles while in the gripes of some sort of cultural shock, but the more he'd gotten to know about his partner, the more clearly he saw Danny's complete self-confidence in who he was and how he did things. Made him sexy as hell, and Steve envied him for it.

Steve had always had to hide a part of who he was, first from his father, then the Navy. And he'd used layer upon layer of met expectations to do it. Not that Steve didn't know when to push or even break a boundary, but he did it for others, for his duty, never for himself. Meant he'd never been able to be with someone he could love. Instead he'd made do with fumbling in dark rooms and unpleasant surroundings, letting the end of tour of duties take care of anyone who had threatened to get too close. Hadn't exactly made him an expert in healthy relationships, and yet here he stood on the verge of one he wanted to last the rest of his life. He sure hoped Danno knew how to handle this because Steve felt totally in over his head. He flinched at the thought. Had to be careful not to use that particular euphemism for a decade or twelve. And hey, maybe he was learning those 'mammal to mammal' skills Danny wanted him to cultivate.

By the time the sun began to set, Steve had moved on from both the bedroom and his own emotional baggage to pacing in his living room and worrying about the fallout their relationship would cause. Went without saying he'd have to resign from the reserves because things really weren't looking comforting on the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' front. He figured they'd already done enough for Jameson that they wouldn't have any fraternization lectures in their future, but Danny's ex always seemed to be looking for an excuse to take Grace away. Be just like her to play the anti-homosexual card, although good luck finding a judge in this state to side with her. Then again, no reason she and Step-Stan couldn't pack up and whisk Grace away to some state that ranked gays below serial killers in the good-parent stakes.

"I figure we give it a year."

He jumped at the sound of Danny's voice. He was a Navy SEAL for God's sake! He snuck up on people not the other way around. "What?"

"We shack up for a year, see if we can avoid killing each other and all, then we can deal with the potential fall-out the 'I do's might cause."

I. Do. ????

"And by the way, you're kind of adorable when you're busy freaking out," he added with a smirk, then held up a white-paper sack. "Hope you're in the mood for Chinese."

He watched Danny walk out of the room and simply stared after him. Marriage? His partner wanted to marry him? How the hell did all that yelling and threatening translate into 'we are gathered here today?'

Danny poked his head back into the room. "Steve. Dinner. Now."

Right. Orders were good. He could follow orders when his head was spinning. Even done it when he'd been bleeding out in the middle of the desert so this would be a piece of cake. He joined Danny at the table to find him scooping kung pao chicken onto Steve's plate. For some reason Danny remembering his favorite almost broke him, and he swallowed around a lump in his throat before he said, "No one's ever bought me dinner first."

"What?"

"Dinner. Never made it to dinner before." And why had that never seemed like a bad thing before?

Danny shook his head and muttered something about 'emotionally retarded army officers.'

"Navy," he automatically corrected.

"Whatever." He leaned over and gave Steve a long, but shallow kiss. Steve tried to follow his retreating lips, but Danny shook his head. "Eat first," he said, pointing to the plate. Then he smirked, "You'll need your strength."

Steve would have rolled his eyes, but he suspected Danny might not be joking. So he ate. Not much, but enough to take the edge off. Danny seemed to have the same idea because there were a lot more leftovers than usual. 

"I'll clean this up," Danny said, rising. "You get ready for bed. I'll be in soon as I finish."

Steve almost blushed, but, new to him or not, he wasn't some blushing virgin. Or at least not in any way he wanted Danny to know about. So no on the blush. Still, if Danno was about to go where no man had gone before there was one thing Steve had to know. He stopped in the doorway and asked, "Danny, do you really … like me?"

"No way I'd have put up with you for so long if I didn't."

He frowned. Not like Danny to misunderstand him. "No, I meant –"

"I know what you meant." He walked over and cupped Steve's face. "Gracie comes first. You know that, right?"

"Yes."

"But you? You I love so much it makes me crazy. Okay?"

"Yeah." He swallowed again. "Me, too."

"Right. Now go."

Steve went.

*

Danny put the cartons in the fridge, then rinsed off their plates, and if that wasn't good enough for Mr. OCD, then they could argue about it in the morning. But tonight? Tonight wasn't meant for doing dishes.

He figured it was 70-30 in favor of Steve being a virgin on the fucking front. 'Never made it to dinner' tended to translate as a lot of time on the knees for either party, not taking the time to get acquainted with lube and horizontal surfaces. Not that it couldn't be done quick, but it wasn't convenient or comfortable for men's room fumbling. He shook his head. He was in love with a socially inept idiot, but at least life would never be dull. Not that he thought that was a good thing, but fighting the inevitable had lost all appeal.

He walked through the house setting the locks and turning off the lights, then paused in the bedroom door to admire the view. Steve had stripped off and stretched out on the bed, and damn, he was one fine looking man. He also looked stiff as a board so that was a yes on the virgin thing.

Moving into the room as he loosened, then removed his tie, Danny said, "We're going to have to work on your communication skills, but for tonight just be glad I've learned to speak fluent McGarett."

Steve made a sound of agreement, looking far more interested in watching Danny undressing than trying to follow a conversation. Okay, so like he said, a conversation for another day. And it was all sorts of gratifying to see the appreciation in the other man's gaze, especially the way Steve's eyes widened when Danny dropped his boxers. Because yeah, he was short, but he'd never had any complaints about nature's compensations.

He stretched out on top of Steve and they kissed. Long, slow, deep kisses that left nothing unexplored. And after he'd gotten Steve high on the lip action, he pulled out the bottle of lube he'd stashed in the bedside door. Steve didn't seem to notice until the first finger slipped inside him, then he tensed up like … a virgin.

"Need to relax, sweetheart," he said, kissing along Steve's jaw. "Danno won't hurt you."

Whether it was using the pet name he'd always given Steve shit about using or the reminder, the bad tension drained out of Steve's beautiful body. Which was good because if that had failed things might have escalated to another muscle relaxant and Danny wanted Steve awake for this. By the time he added a third finger, the man had gone from stiff to writhing and yeah, Danny was that good, and he hadn't even gotten to the main event.

"Danno, please," Steve half-whispered, half-whimpered as he arched up against Danny.

Okay, so he was ready. "Shift over onto your side, beautiful."

"What? No way!" Steve protested, locking those long legs of his around Danny's torso. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, Steve McGarett was back in the building.

He sighed. "It's easier that way for your first time." Steve opened his mouth, but shut it again at Danny's glare, "Or would you like to tell me about all the experience you've had that let's you know better?"

Steve settled on a stubborn pout. "I want to do it this way."

"You're like a giant walking bruise, you don't need to be bent in half."

"I can handle it!"

"My fucking you is not some black ops job you have to suffer through!"

"Damnit, I want to see you!"

"That's very romantic, but I'd rather not be seen through a haze of pain, so on your side, sailor!" he ordered, withdrawing his magic fingers to make it clear this didn't go one step further until Steve got with the program.

Muttering about pushy bastards, Steve shifted onto his right side – he'd taken the impact mostly on his left. And time to do some damage control. "Don't be like this, baby," he said nipping at the back of Steve's neck. "By the time we're old and gray we'll have done this a million times every way you can think of, but tonight you need to trust me to know what's best."

"Fine." Sounded on the petulant side, but Danny pressed a kiss to the nearest shoulder blade to reward the word if not the spirit of it. He slipped his fingers back inside which got him a murmur of approval. Time to step things up, he decided, wrapping his other hand around Steve's cock which made him buck forward, then back onto the fingers. "More."

And Steve called him a pushy bastard. He withdrew his fingers, then lined his cock up with Steve's hole. "Okay, here I come," he whispered, then began the long, slow push in. So hard to take it easy. Been dreaming of this for way too long, but he managed to keep enough control to keep his promise and make even his first entry good for Steve. Gasps, groans, all of them sounding of pleasure, accompanied his progress and finally, his balls pressed against the swell of Steve's perfect ass. "You good?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Gonna move now. Tell me if it feels wrong, you got me?"

Steve hummed his agreement, and Danny began to thrust. Slow at first, but Steve kept pushing back to meet him, begging for harder, faster, until Danny settled into a pounding rhythm that made the bed shake and had to be making those bruises jolt. Fucking masochist and why wasn't he surprised.

"Danny!" Steve cried out, then his whole body began shuddering in orgasm, hot fluid pulsing all over Danny's hand. Sent him tumbling into his own release and he pumped his seed deep into Steve's body. Oh, yeah, that … that had been well worth waiting for.

He sort of went limp for a moment and after a beat or two Steve murmured, "You okay?"

"'m terrific." He managed to brush his lips against the center of Steve's back. "Give me a minute, an' I'll clean us up."

Steve's muscles clamped around Danny's softening cock and as he fell asleep he heard Steve mutter, "Take your time, Danno. Take your time."

*

Steve woke up stiff and not in a good way, so he had to spend morning-sex time in the shower loosening up, and okay, maybe Danny'd had a point about the whole not ready to bend double thing, but he wasn't going to win any fights about Steve staying home today. To make his 'I am fit and ready to go' point, he headed for the kitchen as soon as he finished dressing to make coffee and breakfast.

He shook his head over the dishes in the sink, but the pleasant ache in his backside convinced him sloppy housekeeping had its compensations. As Danny started up the shower, Steve whipped up a batch of pancakes and had a stack of them on a plate for both of them by the time his lover joined him.

"Morning again," Danny said, giving him minty fresh kiss, then sitting down at the table.

Steve smiled, liking this new addition to his morning routine. Once he could cut the shower time back to normal allowing for other things, he figured he'd like it even more.

"Good stuff," Danny said around a mouthful of pancakes and that pretty much summed up the conversation until they'd both finished.

Steve was dropping things into the dishwasher when Danny said, "I might be mistaken because with the way you dress it's hard to tell, but since you're armed I'm guessing you think you're going to work today."

"That's what I love about you, Danny. You're keen powers of observation."

"Hmm, and you think this is a good idea?"

"I think if I'm good enough to get fucked through our mattress, I've got no business calling in sick."

"Okay."

Steve blinked. "Okay?"

"Your logic has dazzled me into acceptance, but I reserve the right to reconsider if we actually get called out on a job."

"Fair enough," Steve said, closing up the dishwasher, and because elephants and SEALS never forget, he added, "Oh, and by the way, I do not have a skanky ass."

Danny moved up behind him and cupped the ass in question. "Maybe not, but I think we can fix that." His fingers moved upward and traced the skin of Steve's lower back. "A little ink here and case closed."

Steve blinked. "You want me to get a tramp stamp?"

"Yep," Danny said, heading for the front door. "I'm thinking something along the lines of _Property of Danny Williams._ No, even better, _Danno's bitch._ Yeah, that's the one."

Steve ran after him, protesting about unexpected hospital visits and bared skin, which Danny insisted might make him more cautious, which led to the usual argument about his survival instincts and comparisons to various suicidal animals. All in all the bastard made him worry about it for a full week – right up until needle pressed into the skin in question.

Steve ended up with a sweeping design that matched the ones on his shoulders. He figured _Payback was a bitch_ would have been more fitting, but no matter how he summed it up, one thing was crystal clear – Danny Williams would try the patience of a saint. Good thing he was worth it.

end

**Author's Note:**

> I could whine and say the reason this is a one-off fic is that I like Steve and bottomSteve in a fandom that is mostly about Danno and bottomDanno. But the truth is that I simply get more inspiration from fandoms with supernatural or sci fi elements in them. So I doubt I'll do more with these two, but they are an enjoyable pair!


End file.
